Leading article: 'Whatever works' is the way forward

Teachers at Lisle Marsden Church of England Primary School, in Grimsby, are to be praised for their efforts in raising standards through moving away from setting and returning to more mixed-ability teaching. The school's results are a timely reminder that, rather than adopt a more prescriptive approach, Whitehall should be more flexible and allow a "whatever works" philosophy to prevail.

Having said that, we should not assume from the Lisle Marsden saga that it is wrong to advocate setting, and that we should return wholesale to mixed-ability teaching. Greg Marsden, the Grimsby school's head teacher, acknowledges that it is more difficult for teachers to tackle a mixed-ability class. In his school's case, meticulous planning went into the organisation of the move back to that method of teaching. This included deciding where individual pupils should sit. The school has placed its brightest pupils next to slower learners so that some of the former top set's ability will rub off on their classmates, and the brighter children will gain more confidence in their ability. It has also used the new teachers' contract - giving all staff 10 per cent of time away from the classroom - to allow for better lesson preparation.

Not every teacher in every school will be able to follow that lead. If they cannot, there is a danger that lessons to a mixed- ability class will be pitched inexorably towards the middling performer, with the brighter pupils becoming bored and the slow learners struggling to keep up. Setting, therefore, should be considered a powerful weapon in a school's armoury to improve standards but - as the case of Lisle Marsden has proved - not the only weapon.

If schools sincerely believe that they can raise standards through a return to more mixed-ability teaching, they should be free to try it. What this saga has unearthed, though, is the fact that there is a dearth of research in the UK on the impact of setting. International research based on Austria is due to be published by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development later this summer. It is expected to endorse the message from Lisle Marsden. It would be good, however, to have more home-based research with which we could compare it. And even better if we had had it before politicians had started making pronouncements about which teaching system was best.